Should you balk when your doctor offers to pay you for every Medicare or Medicaid eligible patient you refer? Why were you billed not once, but twice, for services you never received? What should you say when a friend asks to use your Medicare card?

Filmmaker's Name:

CARIE

Filmmaker's Bio:

CARIE, Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, is a non-profit organization, based in Philadelphia, dedicated to improving the quality of life for vulnerable senior citizens in the Delaware Valley. CARIE'S programs include, The CARIE LINE that includes outreach to the Latino community, The Philadelphia Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, The Providing Advocacy for the Victimized Elderly program, The Education and Training Program, Policy/Legislative Program, Community outreach and special events, and the Health Care Fraud Education Project featured in this documentary. CARIE is a leader in providing direct assistance to the elderly, their families, and professionals in the aging field.

In the United States, 1 in 5 people suffer from mental illness at one point in their life and another 7.5 million people are mentally retarded. Until the 1970's, many of those with the greatest needs were housed in government institutions. But when those institutions were slowly closed due to either inhumane conditions or new governmental funding priorities, many found themselves in living in group homes or with their loving, but often ill-equipped families.

Filmmaker's Name:

Sharon Mullally

Filmmaker's Bio:

Founded in 1975, Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services (COMHAR) helps people of all ages and cultures in the community who have developmental disabilities, mental health concerns, physical limitations and other challenges. Though this video focuses on a COMHAR branch serving three North Philadelphia neighborhoods, COMHAR provides assistance at home and a broad array of services at multiple COMHAR locations throughout Greater Philadelphia and lower Montgomery County.

Sharon Mullally began her career with 10 years in staff positions at broadcast television stations in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Since leaving the commercial broadcast industry to pursue documentary work, Sharon has edited several national PBS programs for WHYY-TV 12 in Philadelphia, including The Dinosaurs!, Furniture on the Mend, and Remember When. For her editorial work on Yearbook--The Class of '65, produced by Fox Philadelphia, she received an Emmy Award in 1996. Recent editorial work includes I Witness, a one-hour documentary on the anti-abortion violence in Pensacola, Our Food Our Future, a look at community food projects, and Daring to Resist, a beautiful and compelling portrait of three young women who resisted the Holocaust. All three of these programs have been shown on public television.

As Producer/Director, Sharon has just completed Rufus Jones: A Luminous Life, a documentary on a visionary American Quaker. She has also completed New Voices, a documentary on women moving from welfare to work; Peace Theater and Building a Peaceful Community, teaching self-respect and conflict resolution skills to children; Walk With Me, Sisters (winner of the Silver Apple Award from the National Educational Media Network), for women with HIV; and Connecting the Pieces: A City's Response to the AIDS Quilt. Sharon has also maintained an active role as an instructor, teaching media literacy to middle school children in Philadelphia. She has taught editing classes at Scribe Video Center.

This tape tells the story of the James W. Johnson Homes, Philadelphia's first public housing development constructed under the Housing Authority, as seen through the eyes of its 50-year residents and public leaders. The video provides a view of the early days of public housing and the tenant rights movement that arose after the initiative's glory days quickly passed due to bureaucratic neglect.

Filmmaker's Name:

Courtenay Cannady

Filmmaker's Bio:

Courtenay Cannady is a writer, producer and public relations practitioner who develops multimedia materials that foster understanding among diverse peoples.

In "Conversations with Flower," pet therapy volunteer Jacque visits an independent living community with Flower, a loveable mutt from a local animal shelter. Richard and Hazel, together for over 50 years, Marion, lonely and sweet, and James, still hurting from his wife's recent and unexpected death, all light up when Flower arrives. But the cooing over their four-legged visitor and stories of past pets eventually subsides. What began as a simple interaction between people and dog turns into much more as the residents begin to reminisce about the best and worst times of their lives.

Filmmaker's Name:

Julia Grayer

Filmmaker's Photo:

Filmmaker's Bio:

Julia Grayer graduated from Haverford College in 2004. In 2005 and 2006, she served as a hardworking production assistant on two independent films, Homecoming and Nail Polish.